The Hard Problem

Collection Progression

Let's say that in addition to ability scores, you're also earning XP (Experience Points) for typical game actions like killing things. XP is how you rise from tier to tier. Imagine this game's progression system has 5 tiers: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. I start in Bronze and start racking up XP to eventually move myself into Silver. In parallel, I'm grabbing Defense Orbs that incrementally improve my defense score. My defense score ranges from 0 to 100 but it's also tiered, so Bronze Defense goes from 0 to 100 and then Silver Defense goes from 0 to 100 and so on, with each new tier's ability entirely supplanting the previous one. By grabbing orbs, I can max out my Bronze Defense at 100 earlier in the storyline than the mission-focused player can. But the cool new threshold ability is granted at Silver Defense 0, not at Bronze Defense 100, and I can't go from Bronze to Silver until I get enough XP to change tiers.

So as a collection player, I get to enjoy the incremental improvements from cranking up my Bronze Defense score to 100 faster than the mission-focused player. But I hit my tier ceiling and when I do, the orbs disappear until I earn enough XP to change to Silver tier. Then I get my Silver Defense score of 0, my new threshold power unlocks, and I'm back to collecting orbs again.
Meanwhile, our content is mostly gated on tiers. I can't play Silver storyline missions when I'm Bronze. And while I'll be a little overpowered in the final Bronze missions relative to the mission-focused player who isn't collecting, we both reset to being even each time we advance a tier. All my history of orb collection is meaningless when we both hit Silver tier and start at 0 again.

By yoking two parallel progression tracks and capping one at each tier, I can enjoy the benefits of my collecting mania without running so far ahead of the power curve that the missions get too easy. The game is far easier to balance and both kinds of players hit major power plateaus at predictable points so we can plan our content safely.

It would be a happier world, I think, even if I don't stop obsessing over the next one of those goddamn pigeons.

John Scott Tynes would like to explain to the world that Zynga's Mafia Wars is nothing more than a progress bar you can click on to make it go faster. Which, if you've ever used Windows, turns out to be a potent but untapped fantasy shared by millions of people around the world.